Jaden Springer saves Boston Celtics with game-changing defense
Can the Boston Celtics maintain their momentum after a thrilling overtime victory against the Los Angeles Clippers? With Jaden Springer’s game-changing performance and the absence of key players like Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and Jrue Holiday, the Celtics’ survived the shorthanded Clippers.
Host John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal breaks down the Celtics’ late-game execution issues and highlights performances from Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Derrick White. Discover how Neemias Queta’s contributions and Joe Mazzulla’s coaching decisions influenced the game’s outcome. As the Celtics prepare for a crucial matchup against the Lakers, Karalis explores the potential impact of a full roster and the significance of this national TV game.
2:00 Recap begins
5:38 Jaden Springer’s impact
12:30 Celtics’ late-game mistakes
22:30: Individual performances
28:48 Missing key players
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Locked On Celtics is a daily Boston Celtics podcast by Boston Sports Journal beat writer John Karalis. It’s an inside look at the C’s from a former professional basketball player who is at practices & games.
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30 Comments
Celtics almost lose to Clippers bench and G League team. And need a two way player to save them. Interesting stuff…
Haven't watched the Celtics games lately, but has the quality of the basketball improved?
🏆☘️💪
Clippers played awesome for young guys.
What a wild game. Man these guys were extremely fortunate to win. They looked like deer in the headlights late in the 4th as John said and mailed in the defense for much of the game. Granted, we were without KP, Jrue & Horford. Derrick Jones Jr took complete advantage of that. Then he tagged in Kevin Porter Jr who came off the top rope & just went berserk in the 2nd half. Jaden Springer hopefully just earned himself some playing time. What a performance. And I’m encouraged by yet another good shooting game from Hauser. I feel for JB-he’s going through it. Not sure what, but he seems distracted. He still made some big hoops but 5 turnovers. Hope he finds his way back whatever that may entail. Hoping KP, Holiday & Al are back tonight. BEAT LA! Thanks John. ☘️🔒
Two consecutive turnovers by brown and completed baskets off those turnovers hurt the cause of the celtics. It almost negated his made jumpshot and two crucial free throws he converted. I wonder if they practice some simulation of end games. They almost repeated what happened with the hawk's game
This and the Rockets W made my day. But dude, that inbound to the corner to JB, then the turnover… that's the equivalent of that foul on Garland's 3pt shot.
But with us getting the OT win and Cavs losing, i can sleep well tonight.
"Close the damn game out" is on point. I'm interested to see what stupid mistakes we gonna make vs the Lakers.
I feel like Springer showed up all the starters. He showed real heart & hustle.
I agree that Springer saved their bacon, but those 'comedy of errors' in the fourth quarter with The C's lack of poise and execution is not only on the players, but on the coaching staff. I'm still worried, especially about Tatum and Brown, in the clutch!
I don’t care that was entertaining AF. Springer was phenomenal, especially that dagger 3. He didn’t gesture or celebrate or even skip back to the other end of the court. He just came into the game and did exactly what he was told to do, amazing.
Props to Joe for trusting him and the many times the starters got him the ball for an open 3. JT passing for the dagger 3 to Springer restored my faith in this team. That’s a huge pass and he knocks it down, that’s a team.
There was so much more to enjoy from this game than to pick on. Loved it.
The Cs don't have the most elite players. But man that bench is so cool
Every team is just going to start blitzing Brown and Tatum- they need to improve their passing. They are fine on a drive and kic, but neither is good passing out of a double team and their handles are good, but not elite.
Also, there is 0 reason Jayson Tatum is taking 13 threes.He is 108th in the league by percentage.
He is such a great player, but way too many mental mistakes
I feel like fourth quarters have been a problem for the Celtics core for the past three years now at least two years. Am I wrong? I made that statement with no statistical backing lol
Do you think this game boosted Springers trade value enough? Lol kidding not really kidding am I kidding? I don’t know you tell me.
Glad we survived this one. Those ATO plays were terrible in my opinion. Got to get better at our end of game execution.
Thank god I didn’t stay up this year to watch this team play. Looked at box score and I don’t know any of those Clippers that started. Pathetic
The offensive foul call mixed with the refs ignoring the timeout just shows how rigged some of these games are due to betting. The refs are not great at hiding it. There was no foul. It’s so obvious when it happens.
I think nerves really play a part with this team. When the game is close in the fourth quarter I think they get nervous they play completely different and they stop doing everything that was working. That’s why we should blow everyone out. Lol but seriously, I think they start to overthink.
Finally some defensive intensity..
Jaden Springer Legacy game was not in my bingo cards for 2025 😅💪🏾☘️
The Cavs lost last night too. Win win.
☘️☘️👊
JB has got to return to performing like last season for the entire game.JB played obsessed last season. This season he suffers momentary lapses in concentration. I hope that JB finds his 🔥
No one made themselves available to Tatum on inbound plays
Woof. But nice to see that it's possible for a deep bench player performing out of his mind to be on the Celtics instead of the opponent
Other than the dumb late meltdown with the great slow down reminiscent of days before the championship year — Celtics with a decent win. That was energy and shooting variance it was hard to overcome and they did. Good for them. Go Cs 🍀🏀🍀
I guess I usually tend to stay away from blaming the referees. But on the Brown TO in regulation Joe was trying to call a Timeout for a solid three seconds. I always say that there should be a referee next to the coach for those instances. He is awarded that timeout and the game probabaly doesn’t even get close to going to OT. But you have to execute and Jaylen Brown did not do that
Springer reminds me alot of Avery Bradley and Tony Allen. He has great instincts and is a really really solid defender as he displayed. Joe made a great decision to play him. Joe has 2 really solid defenders he CAN UTILIZE off the bench Jaden Springer and Jordan Walsh who i compare to a Scottie Pippen type of player. Those who want Jaden to be traded be careful what you desire. Jaden brings energy and is really solid on defense.👀👀☘️☘️☘️☘️💪💪
It's not a hard concept. You are not going to see this team fully engaged until March. Nobody matches up with C's in a playoff series when the C's are at Full Roster and Fully Engaged. There is absolutely no reason to show any of that until the just before the playoffs.
FWIW, if I'm the Clippers I am trading all those injured dudes on bench RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!